Thursday, 5 November 2009

Reacting to former UK Independence Party Eastern Region MEP Tom Wise's guilty plea today at his trial for false accounting and money laundering, Dr Rupert Read, Councillor for Norwich and former European election lead candidate, said:

"If only Tom Wise had had the basic decency to admit that he is an expenses fraudster a few months back, I surely would have been elected Green MEP for Eastern England, in June. For this admission would have destroyed the public's sense of UKIP as a Party that could potentially stand up against expenses fraud.

"As it is, his having held out for four years before admitting guilt, wasting huge amounts of public money on the legal process in the meantime, has meant that once again UKIP have two MEPs in Eastern England, managing to hold onto a second MEP by narrowly defeating me, by just one per cent, on June 4th.

"It is shameful that UKIP managed to get in on an 'expenses scandal' vote, under these circumstances.

"The Green Party will be back to defeat UKIP next time, now that it is becoming clearer by the day that it is simply a joke to think that you can vote for clean politics by voting for anyone other than the Green Party."

Tom Wise had the whip withdrawn almost immediately by UKIP when they became aware of what he had done. I read that as UKIP as a party disapproving of what he did. Why do you blame UKIP?

Is it because they selected him? Let me put it to you: are you saying Mr Read that no-one elected by green party members to a position of importance in the party has ever done anything that the green party disapproved of?

I want you to tell me how the green party can guarantee that noone it selects will ever be a bad egg if you are going to criticise UKIP here.

To lose one MEP [Ashley Mote] to jail for fraud could be considered a misfortune... To lose two looks like carelessness... or something worse...UKIP MEPs have FORM in this; Greens simply don't.It is ludicrous to pretend that TWO of your MEPs - Mote and Wise - going to _jail_ for _fraud_ doesn't say anything at all about your Party...The Greens are clean. UKIP ain't. Jail-dirt sticks...

Reacting to former UK Independence Party Eastern Region MEP Tom Wise's guilty plea today at his trial for false accounting and money laundering, Dr Rupert Read, Councillor for Norwich and former European election lead candidate, said:

"If only Tom Wise had had the basic decency to admit that he is an expenses fraudster a few months back, I surely would have been elected Green MEP for Eastern England, in June. For this admission would have destroyed the public's sense of UKIP as a Party that could potentially stand up against expenses fraud.

"As it is, his having held out for four years before admitting guilt, wasting huge amounts of public money on the legal process in the meantime, has meant that once again UKIP have two MEPs in Eastern England, managing to hold onto a second MEP by narrowly defeating me, by just one per cent, on June 4th.

"It is shameful that UKIP managed to get in on an 'expenses scandal' vote, under these circumstances.

"The Green Party will be back to defeat UKIP next time, now that it is becoming clearer by the day that it is simply a joke to think that you can vote for clean politics by voting for anyone other than the Green Party."